Aside from the presidential contest (obviously), one of the huge issues in the 2024 election was ranked-choice voting (RCV). It failed almost everywhere it was tried. But here in the Big Country, RCV was introduced by vote in 2020, and while a repeal made it to the ballot in 2024, that measure narrowly failed by just over 700 votes. Tons of murky money flowed into the state from outside to keep this system on the books, and now that the recount is complete, it looks like that… The repeal failed. Currently.
Election officials finished counting the results of Ballot Measure 2 on Monday, and the result remains unchanged.
Alaska will stick with ranked-choice voting and open primaries.
The repeal effort failed by 743 votes, or about a quarter of a percentage point, according to the elections department. That’s almost exactly the margin reflected in official results certified overdue last month, which showed the measure failed by 737 votes out of more than 300,000.
The Alaska Republican Party requested the recount and monitored the vote count alongside the No On 2 anti-repeal campaign.
Nevertheless, the people of Alaska are extremely stubborn. Phil Izon, one of the driving forces behind the repeal effort, has promised this put on the ballot again in 2026.
Izon also said he plans to file a petition to put a similar ballot measure before voters in 2026. He said he was encouraged by this Failure of ballot measures in other states This year that would have implemented election reforms similar to the system in Alaska.
“Despite all odds and with only a fraction of the resources, we were able to compete with the giants [who] outspent us 100 to one and were just shy of winning,” he said by phone. “With renewed energy and belief in our cause, we can turn this narrow defeat into a decisive victory.”
While it is expected that RCV supporters will again pour a lot of outside money into the election in the 2026 race, there are some key differences in a midterm election.
See related: Alaska and Ranked Choice Voting: It’s not over yet
Ranked-choice voting fails almost everywhere – even though supporters spend a lot of money
First, voter turnout tends to be lower in midterm elections. If repeal supporters can fire up their supporters and lure them to the voting booth, they could be able to overcome this narrow margin of loss starting in 2024. But there’s a catch; Alaska’s ballot initiative petition process requires signatures from a certain percentage of voters in the last election. The last election in 2024 was a midterm election and had a low turnout at that. This time? Not so much.
Second, RCV was a major issue in the 2024 election. It is not yet clear whether it will be as huge a deal in 2026, and if Alaska is the sole holdout, the huge murky money groups that will be bushel baskets in 2024 who poured cash into Alaska may not be as keen to prevail in 2026. This shouldn’t make a difference, but it does.
Alaskans are really stubborn. Phil Izon and the rest of us who oppose RCV are not going anywhere. We will try again and again. The Fat Lady may have sung a solo, but it was only the conclusion of the first act. This opera still has a long way to go, and as a celebrated American once said: We have not yet begun to fight.
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